(a) Technical Field
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method that combines a lane information image with a far-infrared image. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method that combines a lane information image taken by a lane recognition module with an image taken by a far-infrared night vision module and displays the combined image such that a driver can clearly recognize the lane on the driving road while driving at night or in bad weather conditions.
(b) Background Art
Recently, night vision detection systems for detecting objects in the road at night, such as pedestrians, have been released for some luxury vehicles. The night vision detection system is a hardware component that comprises an infrared image capturing device, an infrared lamp, and a display means for displaying an image. The display means may comprise a liquid crystal display for displaying an image taken by the infrared camera, or a head-up display composed of a reflective film formed on the interior surface of a windshield glass, which is otherwise not seen. However, since the head-up display is very expensive, a TFT-LCD panel is typically mounted on a dashboard instead of the head-up display.
The infrared camera is typically installed in a position where an image of the road in front of the vehicle can be easily taken, for example, around a rearview mirror, and the infrared lamp is typically installed around a fog light.
Such a night vision detection system is a kind of visibility assist device, in which, while driving on a dark road at night, or on a foggy road, the infrared lamp emits infrared rays toward a subject area in front of the vehicle and, at the same time, the infrared camera takes an image of the subject area (which may include, e.g., a pedestrian or vehicle) and outputs the captured image to the display means such that a driver can clearly recognize an object (such as a pedestrian), which is otherwise not seen in front of the vehicle, thereby ensuring driving safety.
Night vision detection systems, i.e., the smart night vision system, is typically divided into two types: a near-infrared type and a far-infrared type. While the near-infrared type provides an image that feels similar to the naked eye using a CMOS or CCD image sensor, the far-infrared type shows the temperature difference in front of the system using a thermal sensor, and thus provides an image that is different from that observed by the naked eye.
A major disadvantage of the far-infrared type of night vision is that when the driver keeps his or her eyes on the image taken by the far-infrared camera, the driver can see an object in front of the vehicle, such as a pedestrian, but cannot clearly identify the lanes in the road. In particular, while driving on a curved road in a state where the lane information provided by the far-infrared type night view system is not clear, the driver may be prone to veer out of the lane and crash the vehicle.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for a far-infrared night vision system for a vehicle that is able to display night vision information while keeping track of the position of relevant road lanes.